Thursday, February 1, 2024

I am just so busy! I have so much to do, and hardly enough time to do it.

Can you relate?

Are you always on the go, working eight or more hours a day, every day, then getting home to do more chores and tackle family challenges? Are you lucky to get any sleep before it’s rise and shine and do it all over again?

Is this living?

I completely understand we need to work to meet the necessities of life, but this is where things can get blurry. Sometimes, we focus on working to get the extra things we want now, instead of concentrating on what matters most.

God intended for us to work, because work is necessary and healthy … when balanced with rest. That is why God created the Sabbath.

Exodus 20:8-10 NIV
⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

Does that mean Sundays are only for lazing around all day? Of course not!

We are God’s people and are made for more than just work. We’re human beings, not human doers. We need to have a work-life balance. So God created a time for us to draw nearer to him and experience who he is and who he says we are—the Sabbath.

This may mean some of your to-do list will go unfinished. But what’s more important—focusing on what you want now or what matters most? Working all the time, frantically running to meet this schedule and that, is exhausting and can lead to burn out, or worse. But spending time with God, truly letting his grace and peace wash over you as he grows your understanding of who he is, how much he loves you, and what he wants for you—that’s replenishing.

Having a work-rest balance has been God’s will from the beginning. It’s the perfect way to live in union with him and stay focused on what really matters.

Do you Sabbath?

Questions:
Are you a workaholic?

Does rest and spending time with God come last, if at all, to getting “everything” done?

If so, how does that affect your life and the lives of your family as it pertains to your relationships with God and each other?

Next Steps:
Evaluate your own work-rest balance.

Remember the Sabbath as a time for resting in God’s presence.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, sometimes I let myself get caught up in the busyness of my life and put what I desire now ahead of what matters most. Help me to purposefully take time to observe the Sabbath for what you intended. Help me to focus on prioritizing getting to know you better and better understanding who you say I am and what your will is for my life. Help me to be disciplined enough to form a good work-life balance that is pleasing to you and a blessing to those around me. Amen.

Series Theme Verse:

2 Peter 1:3
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

This post was written by Ned Miller, a regular contributor to the LivingItOut devotional.